


You Lied

by neil4god



Series: Quinlan The Quatermaster [1]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), Skyfall (2012) - Fandom, bondlock - Fandom
Genre: AU -set day of the bombing, BAMF Q, No Bond, Q & his brothers, Q is a Holmes, Q is kinda mean, Q's POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-16
Updated: 2013-09-16
Packaged: 2017-12-26 19:31:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/969463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neil4god/pseuds/neil4god
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Quinn had done everything he possibly could. He had physically exhausted himself trying to get out of this hellhole. He did not want to be a spy. He did not want to work for the crown or his brother (especially not Mycroft!) He was going to get fired come hell or high water, instead he got Silva and Bond.</p><p>How Quinlan Holmes became Q</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Lied

Tanner’s office was sparsely decorated and dominated by a large chrome desk. Quinn had been staring at it from his swivel chair at the back of the room for almost ten minutes before Tanner made an appearance. He was most likely being sacked. In which case he had nothing to worry about, he didn’t have to be on his best manners anymore, not if they were going to turf him out. Tanner took his seat behind the desk, shuffling papers around until he found Quinn’s file. Paper files, they may as well be dinosaurs not spies. Tanner gave him his best disapproving face, but Quinn had seen far better. Mycroft had made damn sure of that. So he didn’t let it get to him, he uploaded that app he’d been designing and fiddled with his tablet a little before Tanner cleared his throat demanding his attention. “You lied.”  
Of course Quinn knew exactly what he meant. He may not have his brother’s obsession with body language and deductions but he was a Holmes after all. Feigning ignorance he asked “About what sir?”  
Tanner glared at him some more, “You said you were great with people and good with computers. In the three weeks you have been here I’ve had seven complaints and you made Sally cry, twice.”  
Quinn snickered, that blonde bitch had been asking for it. Honestly she was lucky he only made her cry. Smirking he told Tanner “That’s hardly an accomplishment sir. Sally cries over everything.”  
The man visibly blanched, his fingers twisting the sheets of paper, “She is a double O agent and has taken a serious dislike to you and by extension me.”  
Quinn went through his emails while he waited for Tanner to fire him, it was what he wanted after all. Instead the other man told him “I’m moving you to ISS effective immediately. Your things have already been moved so off you go.”  
Quinn snapped to attention, nearly dropping the tablet, “You’re not firing me?”  
For a brief moment Tanner looked confused, “Of course not. Do you know how hard it is to find people who pass the security checks? Much too difficult to start all that again and you’re good with computers. Off you go now but no more making people cry. It’s unseemly.” 

Fuming, Quinn slammed the door behind him, noticing the secretary wince as he went past. This was his brother’s fault. It had to be. Mycroft had done something and now he was stuck here with no way out. Striding down the halls the people he passed looked the other way, some even dodging out of his path for fear of being trampled. He was not going to let that bastard win! Banging open the doors to ISS Quinn decided he would be as domineering and horrible as possible. There was no way he was going to be stuck working for Mycroft the rest of his life. He had only agreed in the first place so Mycroft would get the charges dropped. He had spent three weeks in this hellhole and he didn’t intend to spend another. Spotting the empty desk with his scrabble mug planted in the middle Quinn took his seat and connected up his tablet to the desktop. The desk next to him held a short blonde man with blue eyes who introduced himself as T.J. something. Quinn was too busy writing a disparaging email to his brother to pay him much attention. The other man didn’t seem bothered by it though, he bobbed his head at his own joke, some silly pun Quinn didn’t care about and offered to introduce him to the rest of the team. Finished with his email and wishing he could see the look on Mycroft’s face when his system crashed Quinn took him up on his offer. It would be a few minutes before Mycroft opened his email and would take the system 38 seconds to crash once he did. 

His fury somewhat abated he smiled politely at his colleagues making mental notes of their names and positions without the group social structure. It seemed T.J. was right at the top of the pyramid, with only Danielle Marsh and Q himself topping him. When his phone rang the others looked at him in surprise. T.J.’s jaw dropped enough to show his back fillings and his half eaten apple. It was not a pretty image. Smiling smugly, it was the same smile Sherlock wore when he worked out a puzzle, he answered his brother “Problem Mycroft?”  
The voice on the other line was soft and slightly amused, but Quinn didn’t miss the undertones of anger and irritations “It seems my network has been corrupted.”  
Quinn laughed brightly, he knew the others were staring at him but he didn’t care. “Oh dear that is a shame.”  
His brother’s response was cold and furious, “I have a revolution to misdirect, a war to postpone and a meeting with the Prime Minister in less than twenty minutes Quinlan. I want my servers up and running before he gets here or I shall be forced to take measures.”  
Settling into his desk Quinn pulled up his files and started the process of undoing the damage. He wasn’t giving in to Mycroft’s threats though. “You need to fire your entire IT department. They’re pathetic. Did you do this then? Am I stuck here because of you?”  
He had the code ready to go it was just a matter of sending it and that would depend upon what Myrcoft said. His older brother took a breath to calm himself, “That was all you. Most likely that little bug you sent running through their systems last week. I believe it took their entire department to undo it.”  
Quinn sent a glare at the rest of the department. They were all hovering around him, trying to listen in on his conversation and read his coding at the same time. “Then they should be fired too. I’m doing this for one more week and then I’m done. I’ve paid my penance.”  
Sending the code to Mycroft he heard the unmistakable sound of a cake being sliced. Mycroft was ever so fond of cake. “Yes well take a look at their security while you’re there. It could use a little work. Fix it up and I’ll let you quit. You can be back in that grotty little office of yours playing snake by Monday morning.”  
That bastard was trying to wind him up and it was working, Quinn hissed down the phone “I own _QH Games _Mycroft. I design the best video games and safety software in the world. I do not play snake!”__  
A soft chuckle came down the line and Quinn wanted to wring his neck. “Semantics. You’re not doing anything useful so you may as well play snake.”  
Sherlock was right Mycroft is insufferable. With vicious glee his told his brother “You might want to skip the cake Mycroft, Sherlock says you’ve been looking podgy again. Your lover won’t like it if you can’t fit into your suits. Of course why he likes you at all is a mystery to me.”  
Ending the call he gave himself a second to collect his thoughts before rounding on his nosy colleagues. 

There were ten of them ranged out beside and behind him. Most of them looked like stereotypical geeks, underfed, short sighted and wearing comic book or computer game t-shirts. There obviously wasn’t a dress code. The only person in business attire was Danielle the second in command so he spoke directly to her. He wanted to get this done with as fast as possible. “The security is pathetic and needs to be upgraded. You have me for a week so halt all other projects until this is done. It took me less than three minutes to hack your walls and that was before I started working here. No-one in this department even noticed. Fire whoever installed McAfee and promote whoever uninstalled it. I want one person doing a full restorative back-up. Everything needs to be stored separately and if possible onto an encrypted cloud which will of course have full security as well.”  
They were staring wide eyed and frozen. Danielle was looking through some files on her tablet, probably Quinn’s file so it was T.J. who spoke first. “How did you get your mobile to work down here? We’ve tried everything but nobodies managed it.”  
Oh dear lord he was surrounded by idiots! “I modified it and then tapped into the security to adjust my signal and allow calls. It was child’s play and I am seriously concerned that none of you have managed it. Why are you all staring at me? T.J. start on those backup files. Anita was it? Start exploring the system for any weaknesses, then let me know what you find. Desmond I want you to start working on the firewalls. Let me know how the patches hold up. Nick start building new firewalls from scratch. I don’t want any pre-written code and don’t you dare put them up until I’ve checked them through. The rest of you assault the walls. Full on attack the system, show me the flaws.”  


Danielle was staring at him intently while the rest of the group looked uncertainly back and forth, losing his patience Quinn shouted “Bip bip bip people!”  
Some of them laughed at the reference but it started them moving. They all settled in at their desks starting their tasks. Danielle held her tablet across her chest hugging it tightly as she spoke “Your file is rather odd. It doesn’t have your name or any of your data. How have you been working here and no-one else has noticed that? I don’t like that you’ve taken over like this but I do agree that our security is too lax. Q prefers to spend his time in R&D so we make do as best we can. I will not however tolerate you behaving like a tyrant. These are my people and you are not in charge.”  
Well at least someone knew he didn’t want to be here. “I can assure you I have no intention of being in charge. I have one week left. I’ll fix the holes in security and then I’m gone. I was serious about McAfee though. They should be fired along with whoever allowed them to do it.”  
Her face lit up bright red, as she quietly informed him “That was Q he eh thought it might do in a pinch. I uninstalled it immediately so I have no idea how you even knew about it.”  
That was so disturbing that Quinn had to gloss over it or risk losing it completely and having Mycroft fire Q and everyone he ever employed. Instead he started a mental list of things he would need. “I’m going to write a list, just some basic things you need to run this department effectively.”  
The look she gave him was pitying and her tone was scathing, “And where exactly are they supposed to come from? This department runs on a very tight budget. We don’t have funds for new equipment.”  
He knew exactly where the money would come from. Mycroft wouldn’t have arranged all of this if he didn’t have the funds ready to be transferred. “Don’t worry about the financials I’ll handle that. Pick whoever’s best with hardware and get them to install the new cabling when it comes. Order in some Macs as well. If I have to come back here anytime in the future I expect Windows to be eradicated.”  
With a wave of his hand he dismissed her. 

Despite what she’d said she was letting him run the department. He would direct his little minions around and then he would go back to developing his software. He had a new platform almost ready to launch and it would blow Apple and Android out of the water. Of course he had to escape this nightmare first. Connecting his monitor to another four around him he quickly sorted out the viable code from the corrupted and sought out the holes in the firewalls. He was about to make some tea when the monitor pinged at him. As pings go it was a rather ominous one, mostly because he had programmed to the software to ping when a function was directly affected by a security breach. The others in the room ignored it, too focused on their tasks to pay attention to the noises Quinn’s monitor was making. Undoing the damage he stood up he cleared his throat and asked loudly, “Has anyone accidentally shut off the air conditioning system or tampered with the doors?”  
He let his words trail off as he glared at his monitor. The damage he had just fixed was happening again, this time with more aggression. Someone was hacking their system and was doing it with expert knowledge of their security. It was targeting the more basic functions that weren’t protected. The air conditioning, locking doors, stopping elevators, someone was trying to keep them inside. 

Jolting out of his seat he grabbed his tablet and phone shouting “Everyone out! Clear the building, take your tablets with you. We have a security breach.”  
They shifted in their seats looking at him like he was crazy. He probably was but he was a Holmes so he let that authority he had been born with fill his voice, “Code on the move. We need to get out of here. No elevators, he’s shut them down already.”  
They grabbed their tablets and bags, one hand typing constantly even as they shuffled out of the room. He sent out an alert through the building telling everyone to evacuate. Whoever was behind this was very good. The entire building was connected to the system, take control of the system and you had control of the building. Quinn sent his brother an alert letting him know that the building was compromised and to make sure his people were safe. By the time they reached sunlight and were standing in the cold his staff were franticly fighting off the attack bemoaning their lack of power. They were right, it would have been easier and perhaps more prudent to fight off the attack from ISS, but this attack was too coordinated. There was an intelligence behind it that rivalled Quinn’s and he would not underestimate it. So he made sure all of the system files and mission data was secure, tightening firewalls and trying to trace the hacker. He almost had him when the explosion went off. The building crumpled in on itself and debris flew through the air hitting his people and knocking him unconscious.  


When he woke up his brother was sitting beside him, John behind him reading through a medical chart, probably Quinn’s. Sherlock passed him some water and ran his fingers through his hair admonishing him, “You ought to be more careful.” Quinn let his brother’s words soothe him, that soft tone he only used with Quinn, making him feel safe. Sipping his water carefully he nodded to John and asked Sherlock “How many are dead?”  
“At least 6 dead more injured. Mycroft’s waiting for the full count.”  
John put his chart back onto the end of the bed and smiled kindly at Quinn telling him “It would have been a lot more if you hadn’t been there.”  
That didn’t make it any better. If anything it made him feel worse. Quinn was leaving. He wasn’t supposed to be working there, had done it to keep the police and his brother off his back. Without him the department would never be able to take down that hacker. He was too good. The attack was too well planned, too well executed for it to be a one off. He would be back and the ISS department wouldn’t be able to deal with them. Not without Quinn. 

Pushing himself upright in the bed he made grabby hands at Sherlock and when that failed at John. The older man sighed heavily but reached across the bed to give Quinn his tablet and phone. Sherlock watched him carefully, he knew he was making deductions and there was the faintest downturn to his lips that suggested he disagreed with Quinn’s decision. Before placing the call he asked him, “Why?”  
John looked between the two of them perplexed, while Sherlock avoided eye contact and replied, “You’ll get hurt again. You never wanted to be there in the first place. What about your company? Your platform? You are doing exactly what Mycroft wants and that can only lead to trouble.”  
He was right of course. This was what Mycroft wanted, even if the circumstances were less than ideal. “It’s just for this one time. I’ll stop this hacker, fix their security and find someone to replace me.”  
Sherlock brushed his hand through Quinn’s curls again, telling him “You’ll never find anyone as good as you so you’ll stay. You’re about to give up your entire future Quinn, your life in service of the crown and Mycroft.”  
Leaning into his brother’s touch Quinn gave him the hard unvarnished truth that Sherlock and Quinn had both spent their lives avoiding, “We are Holmses, it already belongs to them. Father was the government before Mycroft and grandfather before him. For hundreds of years we have given our lives to keep this country safe. There isn’t anyone else who can do this Sherlock. I’m the only one, unless of course you plan to do it? You’re just as good as I am with coding and computers. Those are our options.”  
Sherlock pressed his body against Quinn’s wrapping an arm around his shoulder and hugging him tightly. 

Concerned by Sherlock’s unusual behaviour, Sherlock general dislikes displays of emotions, he told his older brother “I’ll do it for a few months then move on.”  
Sherlock grunted and stood, hauling John out of the room so Quinn could make a phone call. As the dial tone filled the room he told himself it was only temporary. This wasn’t a permanent move. Nothing could make him stay, he wasn’t going to get bogged down in politics or office romance. Although he wasn’t opposed to an office romance it would take someone like Sherlock’s John to make him put down roots in that viper’s nest.

**Author's Note:**

> "Bip bip bip" - is from Dark Angel, Normal says it to hurry people along.


End file.
